One of the greatest legacies of the Blair Government will be SureStart, a fantastic achievement which has already given a better start to hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable children since 1997.
When it was set up, SureStart was aimed at the most vulnerable children in the most deprived areas of Britain - including Lincolnshire.
But it has been such a huge success that the Government is now rolling out SureStart to every community. In Lincolnshire, the Government rollout means a massive £34m plan to build 23 children's centres across the county.
By 2010 every parent in Lincolnshire will have access to a SurStart facility - delivering on a key promise in Labour's 2005 General election manifesto.
Tonight's Lincolnshire Echo splashed the good news across it's front page - particularly timely in view of Tony Blair's speech today on the need for early intervention to identify and support potentially "problem" children.
Government doesn't raise children but SureStart offers parenting classes, learning activities, community projects and health and education schemes.
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3 comments:
Blair can be proud of Surestart.
The good in Surestart is to be weighed against the bad in his deregulating gambling which will shortly hit us with monster casinos with high pressure advertising to match.
Whoever the new Labour leader is, they will only get popular backing if it is clear that there are to be no more Iraqs. Britains should support negotiations with Iran, preferably with the US and Europe working together.
The spectacle of Tony Blair refusing to back calls for the terror bombing of Leanaon to end will scar the public imagination long after his eventual departure.
Erm, the casinos will regenerate areas that desperately need it. Blackpool relies on tourism so to put a casino there seems a pretty sensible idea.
A gambling strip in Blackpool (not London) may be worth doing in terms of giving Blackpool some desperately needed investment.
But that is not what is proposed.
The big money wants London and the big cities as casino centres.
I say license Blackpool front and review the experiment. If Blackpool can keep the mafia out and deal with the some of the side effects, then fine, the town has rediscovered a distinctive purpose in the Ryanair/Easyjet age.
I fear that 'Soft Socialist' has not grasped the sheer scale of what is about to be inflicted on us.
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